Attendance
At Hasland Junior School we want to ensure that our children are able to take the fullest possible advantages of all that we have to offer. We want every child to attend school every day that they can.
Pupil absence should be reported by ringing the school office before 9.00am on every day of absence.
Our attendance policy sets out what is expected so that this may be achieved.
Parents/carers should:
Make sure their child attends school regularly and on time, appropriately dressed and equipped and in a fit state to learn.
Let the school know if they are having difficulty with attendance so that any available help or support can be offered.
Seek permission from school prior to any anticipated absence that is not medical.
Not take their child on holiday during term-time.
Not extend weekend breaks into the school week.
Notify school if they intend to remove their child permanently from the school for any reason.
School will:
Make suitable arrangements for the safe daily reception of children.
Keep and mark registers accurately.
Follow up any unexplained absences.
Notify the Local Authority (LA) of pupils who have poor attendance, leave school to be educated at home, go missing, or are excluded.
Notify the LA and/or the Department for Children, Families and Schools (DCFS) of absence figures for the school and, where necessary, individual pupils.
Our Attendance Policy gives details about applying for a leave of absence for your child if it becomes necessary through extraordinary circumstance to take your child out of school for any period of time.
We must state the following:
In September 2013 the Education (Pupil Registration) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2013 came into force. These regulations make it clear that Headteachers should not grant approval for any leave of absence during term time, including holidays, unless there are exceptional circumstances. These regulations also state that holidays cannot be authorised retrospectively. Any requests should be on an official school absence request form and handed into the school office for consideration prior to any holiday/leave arrangements being made. You may be issued with a Penalty Notice should leave be taken which is not authorized. If unpaid this could lead to prosecution under section 444(1) of The Education Act 1996.
Exceptional circumstances might include attending a wedding or a funeral or visiting with relatives who are on leave from the armed forces. Please note: following recent advice from the local authority, we will only authorise 3 days leave for a wedding taking place within the EU – one day for travel to the event, one day for the event, and one day for travel home from the event. We will also require evidence that your child will be attending the wedding, such as an invitation (which we will return to you as soon as your application has been processed). If you apply for leave for a family holiday that cannot be taken outside of term time due to work restrictions, you must provide us with evidence of these restrictions, such as a letter from your employer on company letterhead. We will only authorise 5 days for such an absence.
Please note, the fundamental principles for defining ‘exceptional’ are rare, significant, unavoidable and short. If you request leave of absence on multiple occasions throughout a school year for the same reasons, this would not be considered ‘rare’.
Please ensure you apply for a leave of absence AT LEAST two weeks before the first date your child will not be in school in order to give enough time for processing.
Application forms for leave of absence are available to download from the school website or by contacting the school office.
In order to complete an application, parents must email info@hasland-jun.derbyshire.sch.uk to confirm they have completed the form, giving the date and time of submission so that the office is able to cross check this with its records.
Download Leave of absence form